Month: August 2012
Bike Fixin’s
Last week I ran a campaign through We The Trees, a new permaculture crowdfunding site, to get my bike working in order go on the superhero bike tour on August 10th.
I asked for $111 as an approximate bike fix cost, and raised $265. The total transferred to me was $247.70.
I paid $53.50 to Grind N Gears for a tune-up. Joseph took care of my bike. He was able to check everything out, polish it up, and let me know if I don’t replace my bike tape the salt from my hand sweat would start to corrode the handlebars. Sexy. He also pointed out there was a partial slash in my tire, so hopefully it will be okay to ride on. Turns out he didn’t have the parts I needed to get the other things fixed, as my derailer I had was bent and rusted, and my front brake handle had a bolt that snapped clean off.
FORTUNATELY, AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, the day I started my campaign, I also met an amazing gardener named Jack at the Chestertown Farmer’s Market. Jack has four production garden plots around town, including one behind the ice cream parlor. And his farm is an amazing array of veggies, chickens, pigs, turkeys, goats, beavers, cattails, and birch trees. While I was visiting I even learned how to milk a Nubian goat. And he also happened to have a huge store of extra bike parts and the know how to fix my bike. I gave him $60, for parts and labor and being awesome.
Today, I bought new bike tape for $13.50. That brings my total to $127 for a full, ready to go tour bike. Good thing I raised extra! It also leaves $120.70 that I will carry to the superhero ride in Columbiaville. This might help with initial feeding costs of buying things like bulk organic oats, covering heroes who don’t have money for food, and giving money to projects and farms we meet along the way. As I said in the campaign video, I will leave it up to group consensus how the money is spent.
Many times on the ride, people will want to give us money. We say, no, don’t give us your money. Go spend your money on your local farmer’s carrots. Go give your money to your daughter’s school gardening program. Buy yourself some fair trade chocolate. Hand that $5 off to a random stranger, it will make their day. Money is a great tool, when used mindfully can strengthen community bonds.
$247, spent wisely, can have more of an impact than hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars in poorly designed programs. This money was given to me with trust and faith. It is my whole hearted intention to make sure that money is going to local businesses and people who are actively working to better their communities. I believe the more we give, the more will be returned to us. The Gift Economy is inexact, but I feel so grateful to be able to give and receive in such a free and loving way. I want to extend my thanks again to everyone who made this possible. YOU are a powerful giving force. Thank you!
A few more pictures on what the $60 to Jack’s farm goes to support…
Project One Process Reflection
- Project report title: Project One: The Origin Story
- Summarize how and why you organized this Project Output as presented (Reflect on your design, process, method and purpose): I first wrote up my life review as the first step, and then assessed needs that I had from there (articulating goals, figuring out my skills, seeing what patterns are most useful) and made mind maps by hand. I also wrote up a lot of things, like the index and this review process, directly on WordPress.
- How did this process go? Holy greg! Well, it was definitely chaotic. From the time I started the project until now, I’ve changed countries, driven from Pennsylvania to North New York and back several times, taken a Training of Trainers course, attended a 5 Day Herbal Intensive at the Maine Primitive Skills School, volunteered at a local farm, maintained a job on Saturdays as a rental property caretaker, and attended a National Occupation in Philadelphia for a visioneering process. So.. it’s been hectic. Actually I’m impressed with how much I managed to get done. It was definitely an erratic process, groping in the dark, half looking at diploma guidelines but not getting much explained to me. Mostly it was about getting this website up and running and presentable.
- What did you learn? I learned I have a lot going on! And it’s going to be a challenge to fold in this idea of design to the non-stop action and engagement that I have going on. I learned I need more pictures on my website, and I learned nothing I do will be perfect. I learned that details are helpful. I learned that I really like making mind maps on paper. I learned that my “learning journal” is just the moleskine book(s) I’ve been keeping since I was 17, I’m about to finish book 38, and I’m a little uncomfortable sharing my most intimate journal on the internet and wouldn’t even know where to begin really, there’s so much here.
- What tools did you use (An explanation of the technical side of creating this project report. What software did you use? What digital literacy was required to put this together)? My mind maps were fun and enjoyable, and just took a big piece of paper, a sharpie and some highlighters. I used WordPress for my website, under the subdomain of my colleague Theron. WordPress is pretty simple, but it took some time to navigate the creation of menus, pages, posts, categories, etc. I’m still getting the hang of it. I’ve also started to use SEO software and that’s pretty awesome. Again, still getting the hang of it, and learning to accept things as not perfect.
- Did you find any people or tutorials particularly useful in creating this project report? In the final bringing together of all the elements, I searched around for others doing a permaculture diploma and found it very useful to see what others are doing. Also the peer check-ins with Chow and Theron were nice just to have support and motivation to do a good job.
- How much time did you spend in creating this project report? Wow I really have no idea. At least 30 hours.
- How well have did you showcase your learnings in this project report? Would you consider this project report satisfactory if it was prepared by another person? My strongest point is definitely the mind maps. I found it challenged to disseminate information, this has definitely been a challenge of mine, I know what I’m talking about, but how do I explain that to you.
9. Any final reflections on your pathway integration and development? Though it’s challenging, I’m finding a lot of value in this process and it’s helping me focus, and also share this mysterious mission I’ve been on since graduating college. I’m excited to jump onto Project Two!!!